Matthew 21:12–17 (ESV)
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And
Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and
he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant,
16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And
leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Some people refer to this event as Jesus throwing a temper tantrum. Well…
yes and no. The “children of Israel” were using the Temple in ways that it was not intended to be used. The Lutheran Study Bible states: Immediately after being acclaimed Messiah, Jesus further provokes the Jewish leaders by driving
merchants and money-changers out of the temple. Sometimes financial concerns eclipse the Church’s real priority: faithfully teaching the Word and administering the Sacraments. Jesus responds to our misuse of holy things not by yanking them away from
us but rather by correcting us and calling us to receive them worthily, unto faith and salvation.
I pray: “Almighty, ever-living God, grant
that … all my worship may be acceptable unto Thee; through Jesus Christ, my Lord.” Amen.